Obama close to announcing his SC pick

Indian-American legal luminary Sri Srinivasan is among the two persons zeroed in on by US President Barack Obama for the post of Supreme Court judge.

Obama is likely to choose either “trailblazer” Srinivasan or Merrick Garland as his pick for the Supreme Court nominee and could announce his decision as early as today.

If chosen, 48-year-old Srinivasan would become the first Indian-American to be on the nine-member bench of the Supreme Court.

To fill up the vacancy on the Supreme Court bench following the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia last month, among the most possible names could be Srinivasan or Garland, 63, a source said.

While Garland has been the chief judge of the Washingtonappeals court since 1997, Srinivasan was appointed to the DC Court of Appeals in 2013.

Paul Watford, who serves on the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in California, is also considered to be in the running, CNN reported, adding that Obama has interviewed all of them.

“The groundwork has been methodical and is done,” a source was quoted as saying by CNN, which along with other US media outlets reported that the White House has finished the “critical work” of vetting potential candidates for the US Supreme Court nomination.

All media reports put Srinivasan among the most likely candidate.

In a bitterly divided Senate-wherein the Republican leadership has threatened to block Obama’s nominee – Srinivasan has an advantage because it was only in 2013 that he was confirmed by the Senate with a record 97-0 votes.

If nominated by the President and confirmed by the US Senate, Srinivasan would be the Indian-American on the US Supreme Court bench.

Srinivasan was sworn in as judge of the second most powerful court of the US on September 26, 2013, making him the first Indian-American to be on the bench of the US Courts of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Chandigarh-born Srinivasan whose parents migrated to the United States in 1970s, confirmed by the US Senate by a huge 97-0 votes in May 2013.

Srinivasan received his BA with honors and distinction in 1989 from Stanford University and his JD with distinction in 1995 from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as an editor of the Stanford Law Review.

He also holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which he received along with his JD in 1995. Srinivasan’s mother is from Chennai and father was from Tirunelveli.